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Brooke Geery, Yobeat (If you know, you know)

I was ready to kick off the new year and make a splash on the site and land a super interview. Then we got more snow, and then school started up again, and so it just took a few weeks to get this piece out. I’ve had Brooke Geery on my ‘interesting personality’ list for some time. Until now each of the interviews I’ve conducted were either in person or over the phone. Brooke and I corresponded over email to make this happen. Don’t know? This is the mind behind Yobeat, an internet community known mostly for ‘Making Fun of Snowboarding’. It’s a quick read and covers some topics on my mind. Read it!

JP: I’m guessing you’ve had plenty of funny interactions with snowboard parents over the years in online media. Anything special you remember or care to talk about??

BG: I don’t get as much complaint and concern as you might expect from parents, they’re usually stoked at this point cause they remember Yobeat from the 90s or something, or are too oblivious to know the difference. No, usually the concerned citizenry at Yobeat is dudes who quit snowboarding three years ago and happened across some click-bait article that has hung around the internet (i.e. the Colorado sucks one) who wants to tell me how bad the site is for snowboarding. Actually, there was one dude who emailed me that worked at a local Portland bike shop and I considered going there to confront him with a camera but that’s as far as that idea ever got.

JP: Girl snowboarders catch some negativity online. Do you have strong feelings one way or the other as to what people comment on Yobeat? It is after all ‘Making Fun of Snowboarding’.

BG: Girls catch some heat online- it’s not just snowboarding. The gender bias in snowboarding and how I feel about Yobeat comments are definitely two different topics. As far as Yobeat comments, I find most of them to be hilarious. Either informative and smart, actually funny, or blatantly trying to be funny. It adds to the site and honestly makes it what it is. Do I agree with every comment left on the site? Absolutely not, but then again, I don’t disagree with a lot of them.

JP: Myself included, I think Colorado probably takes the Yobeat comments a little too seriously. Is that kind of part of the fun? Almost like teasing a little brother or something?

BG: You know what they say. The truth hurts. It makes sense that people who identify with Colorado would take offense to my stance on Colorado, which is not my favorite place. But a story saying its windy and has long lift lines is just the truth. Honestly, the main reason I continue to make cracks about Colorado is because people keep bringing it up. It’s just a funny snowboard mecca to mock though, no hard feelings.

JP: You’ve been doing snowboard online media for almost 20 years how have you been able to keep it real and inspiring?

BG: You think that what I do is inspiring? Thanks man. I think in days not in years, so I guess that’s the secret. It’s a daily process and I just try to get up and think about what people might want to waste time with that very day. It’s a constantly evolving and changing thing, that is at some points much better than others, but at the end of the day, my job is make media about snowboarding so I might as well try to do it well and make it interesting, at least to myself, and hopefully some other people too.

JP: I’ve asked this question on my blog before and usually get a great response, can you maybe talk a little bit about the ‘worst things’ about the internet as it relates to snowboarding?

BG: The worst thing is everyone complaining about how much the internet sucks. Nothing annoys me more than people complaining about Instagram while they scroll through Instagram. The internet is amazing and has made snowboarding and snowboard culture so much more accessible to everyone than it ever was before. The feed flood is a good thing. Yeah it’s harder to stand out, but the people who should usually do, where as before the entire snowboard industry and who got the chance to “make it” was much less democratic.

JP: Any trends in snowboarding you are kind of enjoying at the moment?? Others that you’d rather see go away?? Like on and off mountain trends. Like clothing, video, types of features, types of riding.

BG: I could do without autotune. Everything else is cool if that’s what you’re into.

JP: Shout outs or closing comments??

BG: Shout out to my mom and dad. As for everyone else, don’t take yourself so seriously. It’s all just controlled sledding.